“You’re really good at what you do,” I said as he drove up a cobbled path leading up around the side of a mansion.
“It comes with the territory, but thanks.” He gave me a smile, then turned his eyes back to the road. Dense trees rose up on either side of us and a bright green lawn surrounded the massive house beside us.
“Why would there be a little two-bedroom place next to a house like this?” I asked when it became clear that the house he was taking me to had to be on the same property.
“It’s a guest house, but it’s not used very often, so the owner recently decided to rent it out.” He pulled to a stop in front of a single garage at the back of the property, next to what looked like a cottage. “Let’s take a look, shall we?”
The little house was far enough away from the main house for both parties to have privacy, but not so far away that it felt isolated or lonely here. A sparkling pool sat between the two structures, a massive, separate entertainment area beside it.
“I have to tell you, I think I’m falling in love here. Please tell me you weren’t kidding about it being affordable.”
“I wasn’t,” he assured me. “The owner isn’t renting it out for the money. More because it’s a gorgeous place and it doesn’t deserve to stand empty when there’s someone out there who might appreciate it.”
“I’m definitely appreciating it.” I followed him from the car along a path made of flagstones that led to the front door. Rose bushes grew beside the path and it even had a little fountain in the middle. “This is like something out of a fairy tale.”
“That was the idea when it was built,” he said with an edge to his voice that I didn’t understand. “Anyway, have a look. I know it’s not big, but you said you didn’t need big. There’s a kitchen, dining and living room, the two bedrooms and a bathroom between them, but that’s about it.”
“It’s perfect,” I breathed as he gave me the tour. It didn’t take more than a few minutes for him to show me the place, but I loved every inch of it. “I guess the only question left to ask is who owns the main house? What are they like?”
Taydom stopped walking when I asked the question, turning to face me with a sheepish grin spreading on his lips. The amber of his eyes practically glowed in the dappled afternoon sunlight shining in through the trees outside, and there was something bashful in them.
“Okay, so that might just be the catch.”
“Why?” I frowned. “Is it some old man who likes to sunbathe naked or a crazy cat lady who talks to her dead husband’s ghost?”
He laughed and dragged a hand through the dark brown strands of his hair. “No, thankfully not. To tell you the truth, it’s me. It’s my house.”
My breath caught and my eyeballs nearly popped clean out of my head. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah.” His eyes stayed on mine as he lifted his shoulders. “It’s everything you were looking for, isn’t it?”
“It’s the most perfect place I’ve ever seen, and I would love nothing more than to live in it, but why would you do this for me?”
“Like I said, it’s been standing empty and it deserves someone who loves it. As for why I’m offering it to you, it seemed like a good fit. I wouldn’t want to put you into a mortgage while you’re finishing your schooling, and finding a different place for you to rent when I’ve got this one just seemed redundant.”
My arms folded across my chest as I looked up at him, his broad shoulders squared and the tanned skin of his forearms rippling as he looped his fingers into his belt. “There’s something else to this. What is it?”
His chin came up as he stared at me down his straight nose, and a soft sigh finally parted his lips. “I remember what it was like to look for things with no help. You’re willing to dedicate your life to helping others, which isn’t something a lot of people would do. I’d simply like to offer you some.”
Neither of us said another word for a long minute, our gazes locked together in the middle of the cool living room as the very air between us crackled. In that moment, I wanted nothing more than to wrap my arms around him, to hold this beautiful, confident man who apparently had a lot more to him than I would’ve given him credit for.
I wanted to press my lips to his and feel if they were as soft as they looked, but also to find out if he kissed with the same tenderness he’d just displayed or with the passion he had when he spoke about his job.
Taydom Gaines was known to be a dick, I’d learned, but the man standing in front of me now couldn’t have been further away from that. It felt like the mottled sunlight had peeled away several of his layers and was giving me a glimpse of what lay underneath, and I really liked what I saw.
Nothing would happen between us romantically, I was sure, despite how the air seemed to zap and crack between us. But maybe he would become a friend.
The gesture he’d just made certainly made me want him in my life in some capacity, and honestly, the house he’d offered me really was like a dream come true. I might have to get over this attraction I felt toward him. With the pool between our houses, getting over it might also require batteries and some me time if I ever saw him in swimming trunks, but I was confident I could manage it.
There was no way I was allowing something as silly as attraction to put me off this house. It would be like living in a fairy tale without the prince, but I’d always believed those girls hadn’t needed the princes anyway.
“Okay,” I said finally, my voice barely above a whisper. “I’ll take it.”
Chapter 14
Taydom
The men sitting around my conference table had steely gazes and tight jaws. Each and every one of them was used to getting what he wanted, and right now, none of them felt like they were getting it.
I raked my hands through my hair and shook my head. “The capitalization rate on this property is excellent. The net operating income could be better, but it’s high, and the area is becoming more popular by the day.”
“Sure, Gaines.” Cold, calculating blue eyes met mine from the left-hand side of the table, the potential-tenant side. “But not all commercial properties were created equal, as you know. The operational management expenses alone justify—”
A balled-up fist hit the table as the representative for the owners pushed back his chair and jumped to his feet. “That’s bullshit and you know it.”
“Gentlemen,” I warned and pushed my fingers together on the table. “This is a negotiation, not fight night. Sit down, Ben.”
He cut me a look, but he was in no position to argue. As it was, he should have been thanking me instead of making this more difficult. Without me, the deal we were in the process of negotiating wouldn’t have been on the table at all, and he couldn’t afford for it not to be.
The last time we’d met with these people, Ben had come close to blowing the entire deal. Then he’d had the balls to come crying to me about his problems after. I’d promised him one more bite at the cherry and this was it.
If he fucked it up, I couldn’t help him. He glowered at me but did as I asked.